Little new money for agencies that fight terrorism: main estimates

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is at war with violent jihadism, his government’s spending estimates for the coming year show little increase in the amount of money going to some of the key organizations responsible for fighting terrorism.

Main estimates tabled Tuesday by Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement show that many of those organizations, such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Canada Border Services Agency are slated to receive only small increases in their budgets to keep Canada safe. Others, like the RCMP, the Public Safety Department and National Defence are being asked in the main estimates to spend less in the coming year than Parliament gave them to spend last year.

The main estimates call for the Communications Security Establishment — which got a very large increase in its budget last year to fund its new, state of the art headquarters — to spend 35 per cent less than it got last year. That is still 21 per cent more than it received in 2013/14.

While the budgets provided for each department can be increased through the budget tabled by the finance minister or supplementary estimates voted by Parliament, government officials did not respond Tuesday when asked whether they plan to inject more money into the government effort to battle terrorism.

The main estimates come four months after Canada was rocked by two attacks on Canadian soil in October by perpetrators who claimed to be inspired by ISIS. They also come as Parliament is being asked to approve the government’s anti-terrorism legislation, Bill C-51, which critics complain gives security agencies more powers but doesn’t give them the financial resources necessary to do their jobs.

However, they also come as Canada’s economy has been rocked by a dramatic drop in the price of oil, which has prompted Finance Minister Joe Oliver to postpone his budget until at least April.

By law, the government’s main estimates have to be tabled in Parliament by March 1 each year.

That economic uncertainty, coupled with the Conservative government’s drive to balance the budget before it has to go to the polls in the upcoming federal election, appear to have contributed to the government keeping a lid on increases in spending in most departments.

“This year’s Main Estimates reinforces our commitment to responsible government spending and a return to balanced budgets in 2015.”

Overall, budgetary spending is projected to rise 2.6 per cent over last year’s main estimates to $241.57 billion. However, that amount is less than one per cent more than the government’s budgetary spending for this past year, once the budget and supplementary estimates are taken into account.

CSIS, the agency slated to receive a lot of the new power mandated in Bill C-51, will see its budget rise 3.1 per cent to $537 million from $520.7 million the year before. However, the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, which critics contend already lacks the resources to do its job, will rise only 0.34 per cent.

Its sister watchdog, the Office of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, which monitors CSEC, will see its budget rise only 0.33 per cent.

Other key players in the fight against terrorism are slated in the main estimates to get less money next year than the total amount approved this year. National Defence is down 3.75 per cent, Public Safety drops 2.48 per cent and the RCMP will have to tighten their belts by 0.83 per cent.

Some of the biggest mathematical increases in the estimates tabled Tuesday are in organizations undergoing change or with upcoming projects. For example, the budget for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, created in 2012, is up 625 per cent largely because it is going into its first full year in the estimates and the project only recently received final approval. The Chief Electoral Officer’s budget is slated to rise 307 per cent to prepare and conduct this year’s federal election.

The Canadian Museum of History is also to get more cash in the new year, with much of its 31 per cent budget increase to go to renovations of its Canada History Hall.